The traditional QA approach where engineers would do anything to fix bugs and assume the expected result ‘should work’ doesn’t seem to cut it anymore. From big companies like Amazon and Microsoft that claimed they’ve given up on QA testing, there have been back-fence talks in the IT community about how QA is going to disappear.
Still, quality is more important than ever for IT companies, so why is this contradiction that quality assurance engineers are obsolete? Let’s uncover the reason behind this theory and if it’s rather a myth than a fact.
Debunking the Myths around the Idea that QA Will Disappear
Everyone wants to automate processes and for a good reason. Most times, though, automation doesn’t necessarily have to exclude the human factor, including when it comes to QA and manual testing. Here’s why.
Myth 1: Automation and AI Will Replace QA
Automation and AI work faster, and they’re cheaper in the long run since you have to invest in one or two cutting-edge tools just once. These automation tools are often faster to train and you save a lot of time.
Why is this a myth?
Despite all the advantages of automation and AI tools, QA and manual testing cannot disappear. The reason is quite simple: a person will have to verify the results at the end of the testing stage.
Unlike any tech, only a real person can empathize with an end-user. A manual tester can realize the potential effects a service can have on clients. Manual and automatic testing need to co-exist.
Myth 2: QA Is a Useless Luxury
Anyone can test and find bugs, so there’s no need to invest in a dedicated QA team that is an extra charge. Some companies rely on this reasoning: pay less for testing and more for correction and maintenance.
Why is this a myth?
While a quality assurance team does cost money, it’s a worthy investment. Testing, especially in the initial phases, reduces costs in the long run. Skimping on QA provides a false sense of economy, not to mention the negative effects of an endless bug-fixing situation you could have otherwise prevented. A QA specialist has a trained eye and mindset, and will most likely uncover issues that are harder to spot by other people. Users don’t always report bugs, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Sometimes, users find a workaround or decide not to use the product anymore.
Myth 3: Big Companies Don’t Need QA Specialists
Many companies believe their dev team can also do the QA testing part. The idea behind this argument is that the dev team has adequate knowledge to ensure that testing covers all use cases from a business point of view. That may be true but only up to one point because QA means more than manual testing.
Why is this a myth?
As mentioned before, a QA expert won’t just settle to find out if something works or not. Instead, a QA specialist will dig deeper to see if the product performs in an attractive way to target users, but that also works for the business. A QA specialist has a trained eye and mindset, and will most likely uncover issues that are harder to spot by other people. Even for automated tests, QA engineers are the ones who write end-to-end tests and know what data to include in these tests.
All in all, lack of QA expertise may lead to a faulty software application rendering the product useless.
The Fact - Automation Won’t Replace QA, They’ll Work Together
Beyond automation, AI, machine learning, and everything else, humans will outsmart computers at least in two aspects: creativity and learning (or a continuous development of testing abilities).
Companies would still need QA specialists to write and run tests, check and maintain them at every stage. Plus, manual testing and assessments are still vital, particularly for products and apps that need frequent updates or new features and functions.
Additionally, automated tests check if your app or system works as planned based on a specific scenario. The challenge comes in having enough scenarios that cover all possible combinations that can provide inputs to the test cases in achieving the best results. Yet, the human eye and typical human attention to detail find the bugs you don’t know or wouldn’t have thought possible.
QA engineers constantly explore systems, learn and understand the way they behave. A QA specialist’s abilities don’t stay the same; they evolve along with one’s experience. Moreover, quality assurance observations will help the company focus on what truly needs to be tested and know what kind of experiments they should engage in their next tests.
Environments as a Service - Hands-on Approach to QA Processes
One of the biggest challenges of QA is building and maintaining test environments similar to the real ones. A QA testing environment doesn’t cover the proper space, speed, and software updates in most companies. A dedicated QA environment different from the production environment brings huge value, as you can clean up all data, have new versions deployed for your specific tests, and speed up your overall testing activity.
This is where Bunnyshell comes to the rescue, bringing in a structured approach to test environment management. With our Environments as a Service solution, you get to build the right performance environment with the help of our intuitive design and quick implementation process.
For instance, QA engineers can start writing the automated tests while developers build the software – having the software development and test development going at the same time. After the development is complete, automated tests will run in a few minutes.
Forget about chaotic test execution or unreliable results! We provide Agile testing metrics, so you can improve development velocity in QA testing and measure software quality.
Find out more about test environments with Bunnyshell.
Transformation of the Traditional Role of QA
Initially focused on finding bugs, the role of a quality assurance engineer has gradually evolved. Today, a QA specialist wears many hats, encompassing roles like:
- DevOps – creates test installs, test data, and demo data using continuous deploy systems. Leaving aside the serious, technical side of DevOps work, a QA specialist analyzes system integrations and code deployments.
- Product Manager – in addition to traditional functional testing, QA staff deals with product management on some level. Skilled QA engineers ensure the built features align with feature specifications, which they build with product managers.
- Security Specialists – QA doesn’t count only on bugs related to feature functions. Any app, service, or product can put users at risk from an online security perspective. For this reason, the QA team has to stay up to date with the latest trends in software security and notice any such potential risks.
How QA Will Continue to Boost the Customer Experience
Customer experience is at the forefront in driving business growth, gaining and building trust, and retaining brand loyalty. Nowadays, QA goes much further than keeping an application bug-free and ensuring quick delivery of a product or service to the marketplace. QA engineers’ role is to improve the customer experience at each stage of the customers’ lifecycle. This role is still crucial today despite so many tech services that have gone digital.
For instance, AI chat-bots, mobile applications, and other engagement channels have led to a faster process, but haven’t necessarily brought increased quality or a more effective customer experience. In many cases, it’s quite the opposite.
Today’s QA strategies and support models follow an organization-wide approach, successfully meeting the challenges of digital transformation. Quality assurance remains an essential component in the agile delivery model – contributing with practical assessments from product conceptualization to post-implementation support.
Most importantly, QA engineers bring their holistic approach to the table – covering aspects and signaling flaws related to design, code, or logic workflow.
Future Trends in Quality Assurance
With IT services constantly changing and advancing, it’s clear that the role of quality assurance (like several others) is transforming. Like many tech experts have suggested, QA is currently in a transition stage, but without the risk of completely disappearing. In fact, quality assurance testing will likely reshape the process of software development and testing as a whole.
QA engineers’ main responsibility will actually be to instill a culture of quality in companies, motivating all employees and helping them understand how everyone’s contribution is important in developing and maintaining high-standard services. This vision creates a win-win situation for companies and their clients. After all, quality is the ultimate business plan companies can make.
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